It's Spring!

Tasha gave birth today to two sweet kids.  The black spotty one is a female and the other a male.   

Yarn Along, Knit, Pray, Love

This Knit Along will not have many words.  I burned my hand Monday (it isn't to bad), typing is slow and knitting is impossible.  But I really wanted to share with you some projects I have been working on.

I started a shawl for Kelly, you can see it in the basket.  I just love the comment Kelly left on Lydia's blog , when Lydia received her shawl two weeks ago.   Kelly said, " The picture of you wearing it says so much... it looks as though your Mom sent you a HUG!!!".  What a beautiful thought!  From now on, I'll always think of this when I knit shawls, I'm knitting hugs!  Hers is Pequito,, in Shine worsted, colorway Currant.  I love the color, a rich deep red violet color with brown undertones, similar to maroon.  The yarn is velvety with a soft sheen and drapes beautifully.   

The pale blue project is The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife.  It is knitted very loosely with  Wool of the Andes in Clarity, a very pale aqua blue.  While perusing the designer's blog last Friday, I came upon this post, and than this one.  Sunday was a good day for me to knit and pray in the quiet of my room.  I knitted the three little hats above, and today I sent them off with a loving note for each mama.  Two of them are knitted in Shine and the other, the aqua one, is Simply Cotton..   The pattern is Simple Baby Cap 2, from Itty-Bitty Hats, by Susan B. Anderson.  Today is the last day to send hats to Knit, Pray, Love, but I urge you to watch the video, it is very touching.  Just a little note though; in no way do I consider these women as my enemies.  We are all God's children, therefore they are my sisters.  I am very thankful to have been able to pray for three mothers and their babies, and show my loving care.  I will continue to pray for them and their families.  

CURE Knit Pray Love from CURE Video on Vimeo.

I am reading A Call for a Deeper Love, The Family Correspondence of the Parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus.  This book was gifted to me by our OCDS president on the occasion of my definitive promises, last July.  It consisted mostly of the letters of Blessed Zelie Martin, St Therese' mother.  She was a remarkable women of faith, and quite an inspiration to me.  


And what about the boots?  These are Lydia's, she forgot them when she left for Belmont the Spring semester.  I sent them to her today along with the movie "There Be Dragons".  What a powerful movie!   Highly recommended by everyone here.  When I told Lydia about it, she planned a movie night this weekend with Raphael and their friends.  


Well this wasn't that short.  I guess my hand is much better.  Not quite enough to knit, but soon I hope.  

Today's Wise Words From Small Steps for Catholic Moms

Picture taken at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception when we were in DC for the March for Life.


Think
“God hasn't called me to be successful.  He’s called me to be faithful.”

                                                                                             Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Pray

Jesus help me to remember that it doesn’t matter how many things I cross off my to-do list if I am not kind and charitable and gentle as I do them. 

Act

Instead of focusing on outcomes of your activities today, focus on your state of soul as you do them.  As you work don’t sin.  

Today's words of wisdom from "Small Steps for Catholic Moms", by Danielle Bean & Elizabeth Foss.  This book is sadly out of print.  Let us hope it will be republished.

She got her shawl!

I took only one day!  And I sent it regular mail!  Go take a look.  Isn't it pretty on her?   I used Full Circle in Hollyhock a soft beautiful purple that reminds me of the heather that grows in York, England and on Scotland's moors.  OK, now let's have some real winter weather.  I'm not quite ready for Spring yet.

Yarn Along, February First

I can't believe it's been almost six months since my last post!  A Yarn Along seems like a good way to get myself back into blogging.

I took this picture this morning, before I finished Laurence's Robin Hood  sweater.  This was an old UFO (UnFinished Object) I started last year.  It's a good thing I got it off the needles, because he almost outgrew it.  When I picked it up again a few weeks ago, it was sleeveless and hood less.  I had to add a few inches to the sleeves and a few increases to the hood.  I used Wool of the Andes in Forest Heather for the body and sleeves, and Swish in Merlot Heather for the trims and the hood.  Swish, a machine washable merino,  is wonderfully soft around the face.

Here is Laurence reading a favorite Moomintroll book.  We had some old, old well loved tattered copies of the Moominland books, that I replaced with nice crisp ones last Fall.  As I type he is still engrossed in his reading, wearing his sweater despite the fact that it is nearly seventy degrees outside. 

I am reading St Theresa of Avila, The Book of Her Foundations, a study guide by Marc Foley OCD, in preparation for the OCDS class (Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites) I will be facilitating this Saturday.   A kind member of our community let be borrow her copy.  Hopefully, this month I'll be able to purchase the Third Volume of Theresa Collected Works that includes her poetry as well as The Book of Her Foundations.

I have knitted dozens of things since my last Yarn Along.  One day I'll update my Ravelry page, but this is a project that would take quite some time.  Maybe, I should try to start with my most recent projects.  That is, if I remembered to take some pictures before giving them away.   Just today I sent Lydia a box with her Terra Shawl, only to realized later that I had no picture of it.  I am sure she will, and if she post it on her blog, I'll send a link to it.

Pictured with the book is my Peery Flooers.  I just had to show it to you, although I knitted it in November.  Actually, it only took me a few days to make it, this pattern is so addictive.  I used Palette, the color combinations could be endless, I would knit a dozen different ones if I had time.

You probably have notice that I knit almost exclusively with Knit Picks yarn.  Just in case you wondered, here are my reasons.  First I love their yarn.  I am sure I would love many other brands, but Knit Picks is affordable (a very important factor here) and dependable.  It is easy for me to keep up with what is new and I have a nice stash of my favorites.  It is a one stop shopping with free shipping over $50.  Frankly, I do not want to spend more time searching for yarn than knitting with it.  This is how I keep my knitting purchases simple.  It works for me, I am happy with it.

Happy knitting and reading!  It's good to be back.

Hat tip to Lydia.

And also as Lydia reminds us...

Grateful Monday, 30th Anniversary Edition

On this glorious Assumption Day I want to share my gratitude with you.  But before I go on, I want to wish my dear brother Michel a happy birthday!  I am sorry I couldn't go see him this weekend when he was so close, giving workshops at the International Flute Association Convention in Charlotte.  Thankfully Sébastien , Sara and Clark were able to visit with him.

It's been a while since my last Gratitude Monday post. This one will be different, it's not a list, although it could be, but it would be an never ending one because that single blessing is the source of so many more.  My heart is overflowing with gratitude that God, in his infinite wisdom, chose my husband for me, that he made our paths cross in an unusual way (dear Marianne I hope you did find your way here to read this post!) resulting in Matrimonial Union thirty years ago.

On August 13, 1981 in a little town north of Montreal my husband Michel and I professed our vows during the most beautiful Mass I have ever participated in.  It was an intimate ceremony; we always joke that there was almost as many priests on the altar as there was people in the assembly.  Only close family members and my dear friend Marianne were present.  The Mass was co-celebrated by three holy priests, Don Mercure, our dear Père Valère, and Michel's friend Père Luc who had just been ordained and was celebrating his first wedding.  The Mass was chanted in the Benedictine tradition.   Michel and I each chanted a reading, mine was from Proverb 31.  

This weekend Michel was assisting in all the liturgies and was giving the homily.  Saturday night none of the children were assigned to altar serve or usher, which is rather unusual.  Michel and I planned on a date after Mass, a quiet evening at our favorite local restaurant.  Lydia trimmed my hair, and gave me a manicure.  Never did I suspect what was to come!  Anyone who knows my dh will understand how surprised I was when at the end of his homily, he turned toward me to addressed me personally, in french, declaring his love from the pulpit!  Then the assembly stood up and clapped for us!  I wanted to sink right through the pew.  But my heart was singing!  Thanks be to God!   

 Michel is a very gifted homelist, I would like to share his homily with you.

Homily for 20^th Sunday in Ordinary time 11/08/13 (Mt 13:24-43)

What part of “NO” doesn’t this Canaanite woman understand?  Despite being ignored by the Lord, she pursues her entreaties.  She hounds the disciples.  Exasperated, they ask the Lord to silence her.   Jesus tells the woman that he can’t help her “because he was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  She thinks that’s a lame excuse.  She knows, as does Jesus, that there are national differences, religious differences, cultural differences not to mention gender differences between the two of them but she also realizes that only He can affect the cure of her possessed daughter. She now approaches the Lord and does him homage and pleads “Lord, help me.”  The Lord speaks plainly to her, using vocabulary and well understood stereotypes of the time.  He tells her “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She takes the insult in stride.  She turns the other check.  She accepts being referred to as a dog.  She tells him “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  Jesus is disarmed and is won over and gives in to her simple request. What allowed her to endure rejection, insults and self-abasement?  A single thing:  love.  Only love for her daughter will enable her to surmount these obstacles.  Her love, faith and persistence pay off.  She is doubly blessed by the Lord.  First and obviously, she obtains at a distance, the healing she sought for her little girl.   The other blessing she receives is that her faith is called “great”.  She had to be pleased and vindicated in her efforts.  Compare this Canaanite woman’s great faith with Peter’s from last Sunday’s Gospel who is called “ye of little faith” by the same Lord.  How would our faith compare to that of Peter or that of the Canaanite woman?  Could we still bless the one who insults us and send us trials and difficulties or would we turn our backs on him?

We note that in this Gospel Jesus is at the very edge of national Jewish territory in Tyre and Sidon, right on the Mediterranean coast, in modern day Lebanon near Beirut.  Some of you of Lebanese ancestry may be familiar with that area.  This encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman anticipates the Gospel to the Gentiles that will mark much of the ministry of the disciples, and that of Paul to a great extent.  But this message of universalism also marks all three of our readings, including our psalm. Through Isaiah, the Lord says “The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him … I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer … for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”  Even as Israel is the chosen people and dear to the Lord, there is a constant call that this divine election is to be broadcast and ultimately shared with all peoples.  Certainly the most Jewish of all Jewish Kings, King David, a man after God’s own heart, declares what we have just sung: “O God, let all the nations praise you!” Centuries later, Paul would write to the Romans “Brothers and sisters, I am speaking to you Gentiles.  Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in this ministry to make my race jealous and thus save some of them …  for God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.”  We are the children of the Gentiles. 

I hope y’all are comfortable because Father asked me to speak for an hour to give our new sound system a good workout…

Last week, the homilies hinted at our real citizenship and our true home.  Over the 30 years that we’ve lived here, I’ve been asked my name many, many times.  Upon hearing it, a few wide-awake Wilsonians have astutely observed “You ain’t from Wilson County!”  Smart aleck that I am, I often answer “You’re right, I’m not, I’m from Nash County.”  Then I add that I’m Canadian.  My actual legal status is permanent resident alien.  And therein lies a profound truth that applies to all of us: I’m not the only resident alien here, legal or not.  We are all resident aliens on this earth, but not permanent.  Look how long our ancestors lived and how long they’ve been dead.  After a season, they departed to our true home, where the family is. 

Because of our limitations, we tend to make heaven simply a better version of what we know: a pollution-free, better-paid paradise where there is no illness, no death, free food, free Internet and no taxes!  But yet, we cannot circumscribe God within our Western, post-industrial, civilization.  God is not American, nor is he Canadian or Mexican for that matter.  God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  God is family and that is where our true home is.  That is why the Canaanite woman could see beyond the young Jewish rabbi before her: she knew him for what he is: a member of the family.  But there is more than just being one big, happy family.  It is not enough to simply claim the inheritance solely because we are children of God by our baptism.  Being a Christian and living the Christian ideals is not simply a one-time branding and then it is smooth sailing into a glorious sunset on the horizon of eternity.  We are creatures of habit and our habits, good or bad, need constant reinforcement to be sustained or broken.  That is why, in part, we have the sacraments.  Some sacraments are received a single time and impart an indelible mark: baptism, confirmation and Holy Orders.  Other sacraments are meant to be celebrated with great frequency: the Holy Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation.  The Body and Blood of our Lord, under the appearances of bread and wine, are real food and real drink, they sustain in us the life of grace, God’s life.  The beautiful sacrament of Reconciliation restores in us the life of grace should it be lost. 

In the passage read from Romans, Paul gives us a mechanism, a tactic for conversion.  He reminds his Roman and Gentile audience that he is Jewish by birth and culture.  But he glories in his ministry to the pagans in order to make his race jealous and thus save some of them because the majority of the Jews had not accepted the Messiah and his message of salvation.  Our lives as Catholic Christians should be of such luminous and holy joy in the practice of the virtues that those we come into contact with will be jealous of our happiness and wish to embrace the Faith and the promise of salvation that comes with it.  We are all expected to be missionaries in a foreign land before we return to our true home.     

Thirty years ago today, August 13^th 1981 was a Thursday.  In a small church on the North Shore of Montreal, a young couple got married.  It took 3 priests to marry this couple because they were terribly confused.  They thought the order was: be fertile, multiply and marry when the correct order is, of course, marry, be fertile and multiply.  They already had two small children by the time they married.  After the wedding, the husband told his pretty, frizzy, dark-haired bride, who spoke almost no English “Come to the United States with me, I have a contract that will only last a few months; we can make it our honeymoon.  Then we’ll come back and settle down.” 

They never went back.  The groom eventually became a deacon and the young bride a beloved and wise matriarch of 11 children.  And they are still on their honeymoon!

Ma chère épouse,

Qui eut crû il y a 30 ans, qu’aujourd’hui, de la chaire de Pierre, ma chair dirait à ta chère chair un court boniment d’amour et de fidélité déjà accomplis et à venir encore?  Qui eut crû?  Pour emprunter les mots de Zélie Martin dans ses lettres à Louis Martin, je t’embrasse comme je t’aime…

Come, Walk With Me

I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. 

There is nothing I can give you which you have not

got, but there is much, very much, that, while I

cannot give it, you can take.

 No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find

rest in today. Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in 

this present little instant. Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach is joy.  Take Joy!

There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see... and to see we have only to look. I beseech you to look!

 Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its

gifts by the covering, cast them away as ugly,

or heavy or hard. Remove the covering a you

will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of 

love, by wisdom, with power.

Welcome it, grasp it, touch the angel's hand that

brings it to you. Everything we call a trial, a

sorrow, or a duty, believe me, that angle's hand

is there, the gift is there, and the wonder of an

overshadowing presence. Our joys, too, be not

content with them as joys. They, too, conceal

diviner gifts.

 Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of 

beauty...beneath its covering... that you will find

earth but cloaks your heaven.

Courage, then, to claim it, that is all. But courage

you have, and the knowledge that we are all pilgrims

together, wending through unknown country, home.

And so, at this time, I greet you. Not quite as the 

world sends greetings, but with profound esteem

and with the prayer that for you now and forever,

the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.

~ Fra Giovanni

Guest Post by Lydia